Medical Marijuana Program Continues To Next Step

Gov. Bruce Rauner has announced a list of the companies that'll be able to grow and sell medical marijuana in Illinois.

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Illinois law spelled out what was supposed to be a blind process to select who'd get the potentially-lucrative pot licenses. Though it appears as if former Gov. Pat Quinn's administration had selected winners, he finished his term last month without awarding any.

That seemingly put the whole program in jeopardy. Rauner had criticized the application process when he was running for governor, but he's going ahead with it. His office sent out a list of companies that'll become regional cultivation centers and dispensaries of the drug. But that's only in certain areas -- other applicants are on hold.

A memo from Rauner's top attorney identified problems with the Quinn administration's process, like disqualifying applicants without clear reasons.

The lawyer says decisions made by Quinn's crew would not have withstood a lawsuit. He apologized to patients for the additional delay.

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Imagine a substance that can relieve excruciating pain for those with terminal cancer. A substance that can ease nausea and restore appetite in AIDS patients. A substance that can reduce the muscle spasms and movement disorders associated with multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. Sounds like a miracle drug, right? A medical breakthrough?

In fact, the substance has been around for at least five millennia and was a staple of medical practitioners throughout most of this nation’s history, until being outlawed some 70 years ago.

For U.S. Army veteran Jim Champion, the signing of Illinois House Bill 1 into law in early August eventually could mean relief not only from the side effects of the pills he takes for multiple sclerosis but relief from the fear of doing something illegal.

Champion, a resident of Somonauk, was among a handful of citizen lobbyists who spent years trying to persuade the Illinois General Assembly and Gov. Pat Quinn to make Illinois the 20th state in the nation to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana.

After voting to reject medical marijuana legislation three times in previous years, the Illinois House approved a bill in April. Sponsor Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat; worked to tighten the bill, which proponents call the most strictly regulated medical marijuana program in the country. “This bill is a very carefully drafted bill,” Gov. Pat Quinn said when he signed the legislation. He did not openly support the bill as it moved through the legislature but said he would keep an open mind if it reached his desk.